New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-06-01

LOYAL GRATITUDE And DR. MoGLYNN
The brave men who gave their lives twenty
five years ago that the Nation might live
were they mistaken Did they suffer and
sacrifice, did they leave homes that needed
them and loved ones who were dear, did they
20 out to confront deadly fcvcrs and not more
deadly shot and steel. did they groan in hos
pitals and SEQ their red blood flow on battle
fields. only that q worse form of slavery might
exist in this free country than that which was
crushed under the wheels Of their cannon7
That is in effect the declaration Of Mr..
George. who insists that land and wage slavery
is worse than the chatte slavery of the gloomy
past. Little he knows. one must admit, OF
that barbaric system which denied family lille
and personal rights to four millions OF native
born Americans: little no knows, STATISTICS
and personal experience alike will prove. OF
the labor system of today, under which he
who cannot support his own family and earn
his own homo belongs to the ever-dccreasing
minority of wage carriers. But the theories
Of this mistaken teacher arc accepted. and Win
passionate earneStneSs and eloqucnce arc
taught by the same Father McGlynn who said
over soldiers graves al the Cypress llilsCcme-
terry on Sunday. "Thcy died as patriots die
and he alone can he the true patriot who sees
in the possibilities of great and free country
something more than material advantage"
In this Same eloquent address DIR. McGiynn
complains that there is in our land "a great
unrest" as if it were not the very essence OF
liberty that it kndlcs in every man, from
highest to lowest strong ASPIRATIONS ana
bright hopes however much his circumstances
may have improved. to improve them sun
more: however high he may have climbed, to
climb still higher, knowing that in free land
there is always room at the top Tho same
orator asks. '.ls not our country rapidly be
coming what less favored lands have long
since become. lands which we IN our con-
scious superiority were in the habit of looking
down upon and pityingf' This implies that
in our land the condition of labor lS be
coming" worse; that labor is robbed OF
large share of It's wages" and of an increasing
snare. that our government is not conc OF
absolute impartalty and equality for all, and
is becoming less impartial.
But all this is no, true The public teacher
who is ignorant of or forgct~ all that the
past twenty-five years have gained Tor la'o''
who does not know what every economist o'
whatever opinion recognizes, that wages nave
advanced while the purchasing power OF tic
dollar has increased. that hour OF labor haVc
been reduced and that the power OF the en-
nlovor over the service, and lives of the
en- ployed has diminished, that land has for
twenty-five years been free to tho>c who chose
to occnpv and improve it, and that in twenty
Of those years the population lncrca|cd slNF
pcr cent while the number of farms increase"
100 per cent, though the acreage IN Farms
increased only thirty per ccnt-thc teacher
who does not know or who ignores all TINS
mpbt ia study American institutions before
he breaches the go-pcl of discomfort to Amcii-
can citizens.
| Twenty years ago and more. this Govern
mcnt gave free farms to the brave mon VINO
had risked their lives for the Union and sur
vivcd tho pcrils Of swamp and OF battle. MI
George now declares that their ownership OF
thesr farms is robbery, and that private owner
ship of land ought to be DESTROYED by TAXA,
ton which would make the soldiers homestead
vaIucless 10 him. DR.. McGlynn accepts The
| theories OF Mr.. George. plainly because he docS
not understand them for his eloquent Grati'uHc
ia tho brave men who made possible INC
grand development OF the past generation j.
clearly sincere Yet his theories would h"'
only strip these soldiers OF the reward OF lhcli
fidelity but would take from the land tha'
,,rcatcst cause Of its marvellous growth II
nomlation. wealth and prosperity. tho oppor
tunitv for every industrious worker to secure
tho ownership Of his home or farm. Wei Is
il for the Nation that the gratitude of It's PEG
plc to heroes living and heroes dead Is no.